1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile phone networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods, systems, and computer program products for bridging mobile phone networks with other telephone networks.
2. Background and Related Art
Cellular phones are becoming increasing popular. Initially, size, cost, and geographic coverage limited most cellular phone use to a business context. Early cellular phones frequently were referred to as “bricks,” due to their bulk and inconvenience. Professionals and technicians with on-call responsibilities were the typical cellular phone user. In many circumstances, numeric and text pagers provided an economical and convenient alternative to early cellular phones.
Today's cellular phones are compact enough to fit in a user's pocket, have, purchase and monthly service costs similar to traditional telephones, and offer local, regional, and national coverage. Often, a single household will have multiple cellular phones. With the increasing popularity of cellular phones, some are beginning to realize that a separate home or office phone may not be necessary. Over the next five years, it is estimated that up to 30% of landlines in homes will be disconnected and users will depend solely on cellular phone service.
As consumers begin to make the transition from home or office landlines to exclusive (or principle) cellular use, they are likely to encounter some loss of convenience. For example, a cellular phone can only be located in a single place at once. In particular, user's often charge their cellular phone in the evening so they will be ready for use the next day. Accordingly, users generally do not or cannot carry their cellular phone around with them while at home in the evening. Of course, even if a user elects to carry the cellular phone around while awake, the phone may be inadvertently left in one room when the user moves to another room, making it difficult to locate the cellular phone when it rings. Where multiple users share a cellular phone, these difficulties are likely to be more pronounced.
In addition to the foregoing problems, other customer satisfaction issues are likely to arise as well, including the perceived health concerns about cellular phone radiation. This health concern may be particularly manifested where users are faced with extended exposure. Naturally, limited battery life for talk and standby time also will present barriers to increased cellular phone use. Furthermore, the benefit of automated addressing for emergency 911 response usually is tied to a landline. On the other hand, eliminating the cost of a landline and the convenience of a single telephone number are attractive objectives.
In an effort to address some of the shortcomings associated with increased cellular telephone usage, some have proposed products that are essentially a cellular phone charger with a telephone jack. By attaching a cordless or other telephone to the jack in the charger, a traditional telephone may be used for placing and receiving calls through the cellular phone. While providing some benefits, these simple products lack many features that consumers will find useful. For example, consumers may want to route incoming calls to particular telephones within a house or office. This feature may be of particular value where multiple cellular telephones are available for use.
Similarly, consumers also may wish to automatically route outgoing calls to any of multiple cellular telephones or to either a cellular phone or a landlines depending on the circumstances surrounding the outgoing calls. As a further convenience, consumers may desire call routing for incoming and outgoing calls to vary over the course of a day. Support for a variety of telephone types may help address certain needs in business or relatively sophisticated home installations. Furthermore, rudimentary charger products fail to expose the rich call feature sets available in most cellular networks. Due at least in part to the simplicity of these products, they offer no facility for receiving configuration information, such as from a personal computer. Accordingly, methods, systems, and computer program products are desired for bridging mobile phone networks with other telephone networks.